To Myspace or Not?

As the New Year is rapidly approaching, I'm gearing up for a new year of writing! Currently I've got two things in progress and I'm loving them both. Normally I don't like to work on two things at once, but it's working for me this time. And this upcoming year I have a better idea of exactly what I want to accomplish. This year I had a great word count and a lot of output (IMO), but I was sort of just randomly writing. Now I've got my goals outlined and it feels really good, if a little scary that I'm getting super organized.

Looking back, this is what I’ve written as of today. I might write some this afternoon, but it's doubtful.

• The Deal: 37,895 (carried over from 2008 and finished in Jan 2009, needs editing, will eventually get to it…tweaking and submitting it is actually on my ‘to do’ list for 2010)
• Adrianna’s Cowboy: 14,574 (published Ellora’s Cave under my alter ego)
• Unleashed Temptation: 35,393 (published Ellora’s Cave)
• Miami Heat: 21,869 (coming 2010 from Loose Id)
• Worth the Risk: 33,014 (coming 2010 from Ellora’s Cave)
• Better Late than Never: 5,483 (free read coming 2010 from Ellora’s Cave)
• Deadly Obsession: 80,000ish - currently being shopped by my agent
• Retribution: 80,000ish – just sent to my agent before Christmas
• Danger in Her Arms: 80,000ish
• Power Unleashed – 9,804 (third story in Miami Scorcher series for Ellora’s Cave, WIP)
• The Power of His Touch – 1248 (will follow Retribution, my single title if I sell it, WIP)

Exact total: 382,082


I don't know that I'll write as much in 2010, but at least I know what I want to accomplish. Okay, so you might be wondering what the title of this entry is all about. As I'm trying to get more organized, I've been debating whether I should delete my myspace account. I don't use it (and prefer facebook) and as far as I can tell, I don't get any hits on my website or blog from myspace. At least not enough to matter. I'm not sure why I'm having such a hard time saying goodbye to it! Hmm, maybe tomorrow I'll force myself to press 'delete account'.


Tonight the man and I are likely staying in and having a quiet New Years (I'm still feeling under the weather, blech) and for once, I'm totally okay with that. Whatever y'all do, I hope everyone has a safe and fun New Years and I'll see you next year!

Writers Gone Wild

What are your goals or resolutions for the upcoming New Year? Come share at Writers Gone Wild.

I'm Home!

I'm back home and very happy to be here! We made the drive from the in-laws in record time (less than 8 hours) and now, four loads of laundry later, I'm ready to put my feet up and sleep for a day :) I love my in-laws, but they smoke so no matter what, we have to wash everything when we get home. Doesn't matter if I wore it or not, it's going in the laundry or getting dry-cleaned.


Christmas was awesome, everyone in my family knows what I like. The hubby got me books by Sherrilyn Kenyon, Lora Leigh, and Angela Knight so at least I know he listens when I talk about my favorite authors :) Seeing his side of the family was nice, but I'm glad to be sleeping on my own bed again. Now that I'm back I have to start working on edits for my editor at Loose-Id (release will be under my alter ego). I didn't write or even think about writing while I was gone and it was a nice reprieve, but now it's back to work again!


How did everyone else fair for the holiday? Did you stay home or venture out to visit the family?

Happy Holidays!

Over the weekend I discovered that iTunes is having some sort of Christmas song giveaway. I got about 20 very cool holiday songs for free! They're all from artists I like too: Aretha Franklin, David Archuleta, Rascal Flatts, Lady Antebellum, and Sarah McLachlan to name a few. So, I've been rocking out to fun music all week. If you've got an iPod be sure to check out their free offer!


My husband drove up to see his parents earlier this month and I'm flying up in a couple days to join them. So while I'm really looking forward to Christmas day, I'm more looking forward to just seeing my husband. And my dog. Did I mention he took my dog too?? The house has been very clean (no shedding dog or messy hubby) and quiet and I've gotten a lot of writing done this month, but I really miss the noise and yes, the mess. Never thought I'd say that either. I can't wait until I see them and we're all back under the same roof!


As of right now, all my shopping is done, I've exchanged presents w/ my mom, dad, and I'll be exchanging w/ my sister before I leave, and all my cards are mailed out. Normally I get my cards in the mail the first week of December but I was a slacker this year. But, at least everything is finally done!


I don't know that I'll be online much this week since I'll be traveling so I hope my Christian friends have a Merry Christmas and my Jewish friends a Happy Hanukkah!

Happy Friday Everyone!

Only a week until Christmas! I'm so excited this year for a multitude of reasons, the main of which is we'll be visiting the in-laws so that means no cooking for us. We get to show up, eat and drink. Doesn't get much better than that!


Today my alter ego is chatting at Naughty Author Chicks about holiday traditions. Come share yours if you get a chance.


Have a great weekend everyone!

Self-Editing Workshop by Angela James

On January 18, 2010 ESPAN is holding a Self Editing Workshop by Angela James. Check it out and register here: http://espan-rwa.com/workshops/


Join Angela James as she shares some of the common pitfalls she’s seen in submissions and contest entries. She’ll give you ideas, tips and tricks for polishing and self-editing your manuscript. Discuss things such as dialogue tags, whether all forms of “to be” really are evil and just what you’re doing to your life expectancy with your use of that exclamation point. Through it all, she’ll be available for clarification and questions in order to help you on your way to a cleaned-up manuscript.


This course will run over several days on the ESPAN forum, so you can pop in and out as needed to ask Angela questions or see the new information she’s posted. So, you don’t need to be available at any certain time of day, but you do need to sign up for the course to attend.


The course will be $5 for ESPAN RWA members, $10 for non-ESPAN RWA Members and $15 for non-RWA – come join us!

Key Lime Martini

Want a fabulous recipe? Head on over to Writers Gone Wild!

I'm Finished!

Whew! I'm finally able to breathe again :) I just sent my finished, edited-to-death, paranormal/romantic suspense to my agent. Thanks to one of my awesome CP's, the ending scene is finally polished and ready to go! (or at least I hope it is) Now I can take a little break.

On Saturday I met with some writer friends and got some really good plot ideas for the next in my planned paranormal series (the second story after above mentioned manuscript). I'm meeting w/ one of my CP's today so hopefully I'll be able to bounce some ideas off her too. There's something so wonderful about meeting with other writers. Even though I have supportive friends and family as far as my writing goes, writers are the only other people who understand angst over rejections and they're the only other people I can talk about the publishing industry with who actually understand me. Very refreshing :)

I also need to finish start the third book in my Miami Scorcher series for Ellora's Cave (under my alter ego, Savannah Stuart). It's all plotted out, I just need to write it. Luckily the characters are all recurring (except the hero) and the world-building is there. It actually takes place a few days after the last story ended so it's almost like I'm picking up where I left off.

Tonight however, I think I'm going to take a much needed break and watch Harry Potter (Blood Prince). I rented it last week and I still haven't had a chance to watch it and I've been dying to! My brain is tired from this weekend. How about y'all? What did everyone do over the weekend?

Friday!

Happy Friday everyone!! I'm sooooo happy this week has come to an end :) I'm almost finished with my current manuscript but I'm coming up for air to let y'all know that the first chapter of Safe in His Arms, my free read, is now available on my website. Click here to check it out. I wrote this a couple years ago just for fun and because of the shorter length, I decided to offer it for free instead of letting it gather dust on my computer.

Safe in His Arms Blurb:

A year ago, underwater photographer Sarah Emerson walked out on the only man she ever loved. She believed he was unfaithful to her, and refused to be the kind of woman to look the other way. Just when she thinks she’s buried the past, her old lover shows up demanding answers.

Alexei Petrov almost lost the woman he loved because he was too stubborn to follow her. After a year of loneliness, he swallows his pride and comes for her to reclaim his place in her life and her bed. When she wrongly accuses him of being unfaithful, things finally make sense. Now that he knows why she left, he sets off to prove her wrong using any means necessary.

Have a fabulous weekend!!

Writers Gone Wild

I'm over at Writers Gone Wild chatting about the tiniest apartment in New York and author insecurities. What do the two things have in common you might ask? Come find out!

Still can't believe it's December already

Somehow I missed my weekly Monday post! I've been deep in my writer's cave so that's my only excuse. I'm in the final stretch of this manuscript and I've got about 10-15K to go so I'm trying to buckle down and finish before my holiday vacation :) Of course I'll have to immerse myself in edits when I get back, but it'll be a relief to be done. Over the weekend my local RWA chapter (CFRW) had their annual holiday party and it was so nice to see everyone. It's not always easy to socialize at meetings so the party was fun and relaxing. For the past two years I've been the membership chair (for some reason I volunteered at my second meeting, lol) and at the party I 'officially' passed the torch to someone else. Basically I gave her all the hard copies of forms, records and name-tag labels, etc. It was great to be involved and in a couple years I might like to do something else for the chapter, but for now, it's nice to have no responsibilities.

In life news, I finally got a Christmas present for my mom. She's the hardest person in my family to shop for but I got something I know she'll use. Now I only have my niece and two nephews left to shop for and I already know what I'm getting them. It's just a matter of actually getting to the store! Okay, I'm going back to my cave, but I'm curious how many of you have finished your shopping or you're close to finishing your shopping for the holidays?

It Finally Feels Like Christmas

Living in Florida, it always takes a while to actually 'feel' like Christmas. I was born and raised here but I spent a few years living in North Carolina and around October/November, the weather shifted and it was easy to get into the holiday spirit there. There's something about bundling up in scarves and coats, lighting a fire every night, and drinking hot cocoa that puts one in the mood for the holidays. Here, however, it's December and I'm still wearing flip-flops so it's hard to feel real 'holiday-y'. Last night the man and I put up decorations and now I'm finally into the holiday spirit! Even though it was humid last night, I drank hot cocoa and right now, as I prepare to start writing for the day, I've got Christmas music playing in the background :)


What does it take for you to 'feel' like the holidays are here? I hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Wednesday Again

It's Wednesday so guess what, I'm at Writers Gone Wild again! Stop by and say hi if you get a chance :)